WP: Bioterror Plans Inadequate, GAO Says

Bioterror Plans Inadequate, GAO Says
Government Has Yet to Develop Certified Anthrax Test Procedures, Study Shows

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 5, 2005; Page A10


Despite the nation's deadly 2001 experience with anthrax in the mail, federal scientists have not agreed on a method to determine whether workplaces, postal facilities or other sites that might have been exposed are free of contamination, according to a congressional study.

The lack of certified anthrax sampling procedures means "there can be little confidence in negative results," the Government Accountability Office reported. Nor can U.S. environmental and health experts answer with confidence what GAO investigators called the basic question: "Is this building contaminated?"


The report is the latest in a series of government reviews that have questioned the effectiveness of the country's bioterrorism response plans.

The Washington area has experienced several false alarms prompted by new biological agent detection systems. They include last month's incident at two Pentagon-related mail facilities; a February 2004 report of the toxin ricin in a Senate office building; and a November 2003 alarm at a Navy mail processing center in Anacostia....

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Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, which requested the GAO study, said its findings expose a risk to homeland security....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26608-2005Apr4.html

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